And for the fans that missed seeing an HBox win, they just need to watch the skits, where he very much dominated.
Smash n Splash 5 Melee + Ultimate
Smash N’ Splash is one of the most fun tournaments in the FGC. Smashers from across the country come to the waterpark capital of the world to compete and relax. This year, the tournament was even more notable for its waterfall swiss brackets, which extended the pools stage and gave players a guaranteed 5 games to play, while giving the best players a quick ticket to Top 64.
As expected, Hungrybox, Dabuz, and ChuDat punched in their tickets to Top 64 early with a 5-0 each in pools. In 2018, ChuDat had his fair share of struggles but in 2019 he’s gradually been returning to vintage Chu form and taking it to the best players in the game. He placed 13th this tournament, but that was no small feat. He beat PewPewU and Mike Haze and nearly beat Amsa in a reverse 3-0. True to form, he ended up the highest ranked Ice Climbers at the tournament.
Not to be outdone, Hungrybox got 2nd in Melee Singles and he only lost sets to an unstoppable Wizzrobe. Wizzrobe played with the same calculating, smart style with a renewed vigor. He performed better than he ever had and became the first player to ever place top 8 in both Ultimate and Melee. While Hungrybox couldn’t quite beat him, he brought every match in the Grand Finals down to last stock, giving Wizzy his first major win and Captain Falcon his first major win in almost 15 years.
Though Hungrybox didn’t beat Wizzrobe, he handled the rest of the competition. He beat Plup in a stylish 3-0, Leffen in a classic 3-2, as well as SFAT, and iBDW. With little time to rest, he even got called in to cast Ultimate’s final matches.
In Ultimate’s top 8, Dabuz would avenge his teammate by 3-0ing Wizzrobe in convincing fashion. The crowd cheered, “3.1” as he won, since the coming patch would bring significant nerfs to Olimar, Dabuz’s main. Dabuz stood up and asked the crowd for more.
Still, it wasn’t a perfect tournament for Dabuz. In Winners, he was forced to change from Olimar to face Shoyo James, one of the world’s best Chroms and best counters to Olimar. Forced onto a nerfed Rosalina, Dabuz lost to Shoyo James in a 3-0 that came to lost stock, with last hit situations each match.
Afterwards, Dabuz would face Marss, the 2nd seed in the tournament. Each match, Dabuz played a different character - going from Olimar, to Rosalina, to Palutena - and each match he got closer and closer to a win. In the third match, he was just a hit away but still lost in a hard-fought defeat.
Rainbow 6 Vegas Minor
This past week in the gambling capital of the world, Team Liquid tried their luck at finding themselves a finals victory during the Allied Vegas Minor. After a remarkable run through the swiss stage, and a fantastic victory against Spacestation Gaming in the quarterfinals, their run was cut short by Team Secret in the semi-finals.
Fans of Liquid hoped they had the capacity and ever-growing momentum to take down Team Secret, but their driving power proved to be too superior. Team Secret beat the boys of TL on the first map Consulate, 7-2, and then nailed the coffin on Clubhouse, with a scoreline of 7-4. Though Liquid remains extremely high on the regional and global totem pole for R6 rankings, Secret is a force not to be reckoned with.
This was Team Liquid’s first outing without their long-time captain Ziguera and instead was fielding a former rival in HSnamuringa in Zig’s place. A semi-finals appearance at an international competition is nothing to scoff at when you consider that this team should only improve as they get used to playing together.